The Temptation Read online

  His scent was familiar and comforting and his arms felt good around me. Despite the horror of the situation, I needed him at that moment.

  When we drew apart, he held me by my shoulders and looked into my eyes. I didn’t fight my need for his strong presence. He stroked hair from my face with his fingertips.

  “I’m sorry this happened to Rori.” His fingers were callused but gentle as he touched me. “We’ll find her. And I’m not about to let him take you, too, Lexi.”

  A feeling went through me that I couldn’t identify and I didn’t know if I wanted to. It was something stronger than friendship or the need for comfort.

  He kissed my forehead then inclined his head toward the staircase that led up to the second floor. “Let’s get started.”

  Chapter 9

  War

  I followed Nick to the next level up in his brownstone and into a war room that was as modern and high-tech as the one he’d set up in his sister’s home when he was searching for her. The dim room had a blue glow from the bank of monitors. Five chairs were positioned in front of the long L-shaped desk that extended along two walls.

  “Expecting company?” I asked.

  He glanced at me. “Possibly.”

  “Your special special team?” There was hope in my voice. Even though the four huge black ops team members had discounted me at first because I’m such a petite package, I respected them. They respected me equally after having seen me in action, especially when I snapped a man’s neck using my thighs.

  “I hope you can get them out here.” I met Nick’s gaze. “We can use all the help we can get.”

  “Agreed.” He nodded. “I haven’t been able to reach any of them so I’m assuming they’re on a mission.”

  I took a deep breath. “Let’s get on it.”

  He showed me the information he’d managed to duplicate on his system.

  “How did you do this so fast?” I asked as I looked over everything. “It’s only been a matter of hours since this morning when we were told the op was killed.”

  He showed me his laptop and I saw his desktop from work was mirrored on it. “When you left earlier this morning, I downloaded everything and loaded it onto my system.”

  “Very illegal,” I said.

  “I don’t give a shit if it is.”

  “Same here.” I sat before one of the keyboards in front of the large bank of monitors.

  Nick hadn’t had time to key into the monitors that fortunately were still set up in front of the various hotels, so we worked on that. It was simply a matter of knowing the wireless codes that would connect to the cameras that RED had installed. I accessed my work computer using one of his hard drives, downloaded all of the necessary info, and we had everything we would need to give us a head start.

  The doorbell rang and Nick went to answer it. He returned with Zane and Ryan. They each took a chair while I filled them in on what we had and what we knew at this point. Since neither of them worked in the same department as Nick and I, they weren’t up to speed.

  In the meantime, Nick worked the cameras monitoring the entrances to four of D.C.’s most exclusive hotels.

  “The snitch we worked with gave us a good idea of what’s going on,” I explained. “We believe Bachmann has a high-level prostitution ring where the call girls may or may not be working against their will.” I gestured to the monitors. “According to our source, the operation is headquartered in one of these hotels, but he wasn’t sure which.”

  “Is he a reliable source?” Zane asked.

  “He was.” I glanced at Nick then back to Zane and Ryan. “Apparently he was tortured to death and he gave up the fact that I was working the op undercover. We just hope he didn’t give up everything and Bachmann doesn’t relocate his headquarters before we’re able to locate him.”

  When I’d told my brothers all I knew, it was time to get to work.

  We each took a hotel and monitored the comings and goings at the same time we zipped through recordings from the past few days for that hotel.

  All the while I thought about how Rori had been abducted and my stomach stayed permanently clenched. I didn’t think it would ever relax until my sister was safe and sound.

  After at least an hour had passed, Zane said, “I think I’ve got something.” His voice jerked me out of my trance and I paused the recording I’d been reviewing. Hope surged in my chest.

  “What is it?” Ryan asked.

  Zane switched over the recording of what had been his live video feed for today, along with the prior day’s recording, so that each took up half of the bank of monitors in front of us. Both were paused. He backed up each recording. The numbers at the top showed the times and dates.

  He pointed out women who were headed into the hotel. “These women come in every day about the same time. If it wasn’t for the provocative way they’re dressed, they could be hotel employees. But I know this hotel and it’s very conservative.”

  “Maybe they’re just guests,” Ryan said.

  “Could be.” Zane nodded. “But these same women come in approximately eight in the evening and leave around two in the morning. I went back two weeks’ time and checked those hours. The women trickle in and out during the same timeframe.”

  A thrill of excitement went through me. This could be it. I tapped my fingers on the desktop. “Not exactly the hours that guests would be coming and going.”

  “Before they go into the hotel for the evening,” Zane added, “two of the women meet in that coffee shop right there on the corner.”

  I looked at the coffee shop that was within range of the cameras. “That’s interesting.”

  “Let’s focus on that hotel.” Nick clicked a few keys on his keyboard. “And see what else we can come up with.”

  We split up the days. Not only did we see the same pattern for the same women day in and day out over the past few weeks, we recognized prominent politicians, lawyers, judges, and businessmen coming and going during a similar timeframe. None of them seemed to stay more than a few hours.

  “Even for D.C. that’s a lot of politicians going in and out of one hotel,” I said.

  “And none of them look like they want to be seen,” Zane said as we worked through the recordings. “Notice how they seem to avoid eye contact with anyone?”

  “Yep.” Ryan gave a nod. “That’s exactly what it looks like.”

  A burst of excitement went through me when I saw a dark haired man with a goatee and I stopped the playback. I pointed to him. “That’s Eric Dawson, one of Bachmann’s key men.”

  My brothers and Nick looked at the man entering the hotel.

  “Are you sure?” Zane asked.

  “Ninety-nine percent.” I studied Dawson. “Yep. That’s him.” I explained to my brothers what I’d already told Nick earlier that morning.

  “I think I’ve seen that guy on a couple of recordings that I viewed.” Ryan said.

  “This is all excellent news.” I studied the image of the man and nodded. “We’ve got you, you bastard.”

  We continued looking a little longer. “No sign of anyone who looks like Bachmann.” I glanced up from the recording I’d been reviewing. “Not that I expected anything. I’m certain he would have had plastic surgery to take care of what the young woman did to him.”

  Zane nodded. “From what you and Nick shared, I’d bet that’s the case.”

  “Eric Dawson seems to have a regular schedule of coming in at ten PM and then leaving again the following afternoon,” Ryan said, and I nodded.

  “Now we need a plan.” I looked thoughtfully at the screen then at my brothers. “We need to catch flights into Dulles first thing in the morning. Zane, you can go in undercover as a businessman staying at the hotel and you can potentially catch the attention of one of the call girls. Ryan, you can man the van.”

  “Why does he get all of the fun?” Ryan asked but I knew he was kidding.

  “Zane has a little more undercover field experience and you have a lot
of experience on surveillance,” I said.

  “Ryan and I can drive up together in the surveillance van. We’ll head there tonight,” Zane said.

  I nodded. “Good.”

  “What if Rori isn’t in D.C. with Bachmann?” Ryan said.

  “On the phone Bachmann said that Rori was being taken to him.” I frowned. “So I’m assuming he meant to Washington, and that’s why he didn’t have her yet. It’s a good eight hour drive from Boston to D.C.”

  “We could use an inside woman to pose as a high-class prostitute,” Nick said. “But without RED’s resources…”

  “Georgina.” I drew my personal cell phone out of its holster at my hip. The call I needed to make had to be on my own dime.

  “She’d be perfect,” Zane said. “Think she’ll do it?”

  “In a heartbeat.” The tone buzzed in my ear as I called my friend and fellow RED agent on her personal line. “As long as she’s not working undercover right now,” I added.

  Georgina lived in the apartment above mine and we had become tight friends over the years. She’d been there for me more times than I could count.

  “Hello,” came Georgina’s sultry voice.

  “This is Lexi,” I said. “I need your help.”

  “What can I do?” Georgina immediately replied. “Is everything all right? You’re calling from your personal phone to my personal line, so you’ve got me worried.”

  “I’m at Nick’s,” I said and she made a sound of surprise. She knew the history between Nick and me. She was the only one I’d ever confided in about him. She’d been the only person I confided in at all since Nick left. “I need you to come over here as soon as you can.”

  “I need to wrap up something I’m working on,” she said. “It won’t take me longer than fifteen minutes so I’ll be there in twenty-five.”

  “Great.” I paused. “Thank you, Georgina. I owe you.”

  “Not yet,” she added. “But you will.” Of course she was kidding. She never felt the need to hold anything over me and I felt the same way about her.

  The four of us continued to lay down plans while we waited for Georgina.

  “She’s a master at transformations,” I said. “She’s helped me on more ops than I can think of at the moment.”

  “Lexi and I can pose as a married couple,” Nick said.

  An odd sensation went through my belly at the thought of posing as husband and wife and being with him in close quarters again. I didn’t know if I could keep my hands off him. Maybe he’d be strong enough for the both of us.

  Nick looked at me. “Georgina will need to perform some of her magic so that no one recognizes you.”

  I nodded. “No problem.”

  The four of us talked strategy until the doorbell rang. “I’ll get it.” I was out of my seat before Nick could get up and I jogged down the stairs.

  I looked out the peephole and saw it was Georgina. She was a good Italian Catholic girl who happened to be a very bad girl when it came to men.

  When I opened the door she strode in.

  “Something’s going on. What is it?” Georgina’s gorgeous runway model features were tense as she closed the door behind her. At five-ten she was a good six inches taller than me.

  I took a deep breath. “Rori’s been abducted.”

  “Your sister?” Georgina widened her dark eyes. “What happened?”

  “I was the one who was meant to be taken.” I held my hand to my belly. “But she was in my apartment while I was out jogging and they grabbed her by mistake.”

  Georgina looked horrified. “Do you know who has her?”

  I nodded and explained about Bachmann as we headed up the stairs to Nick’s war room. The more I told her, the sicker I felt. I kept thinking of Rori and what she must be going through right now.

  When we reached the war room, she and Nick hugged. She said hello to Zane who worked with her in the same department, and I introduced her to Ryan.

  She set her purse down and took the fifth chair. She wore big gold hoop earrings, designer jeans, sandals, and a low-cut orange blouse that showed her rather generous cleavage. Her toenails were painted a matching color and she had a French manicure on her long nails.

  “We need you to be a high-priced call girl,” I said as I jumped right to the point.

  She nodded, clearly taking it in stride. “Fill me in.”

  We caught her up to speed and ran through the basic plan that we’d put together and she interjected her own ideas as we went on. Georgina was quick and intelligent in addition to being dazzlingly beautiful. I noticed my own brother, Ryan, seemed to be caught in her spell.

  When we had worked everything out, Georgina headed to her home and Ryan and Zane took off to get ready for their drive up to D.C. tonight in the van. That left Nick and me alone.

  “It’s getting late and I’d bet you haven’t eaten since early this afternoon.” His blue eyes glittered in the dim light. “I’ll fix something.”

  “I don’t know if I can eat anything.” I wrapped my arms around my belly as another sick feeling went through my gut.

  “Hey.” He took me by the shoulders. “Since when have you refused my cooking?”

  I gave him a half smile. “Since never.”

  “Then come on.” He put his arm around my shoulders and it felt warm and comforting. Every touch he’d made tonight had felt that way. “I’ll make you some of those crepes that you always demand.”

  “Me? Demand?” We walked together downstairs. “Never.”

  He snorted. “That’s not what I remember.”

  “Then your memory is faulty.” It wasn’t, of course. I loved both his breakfast and dinner crepes.

  He squeezed me to him as we walked through the doors of the kitchen then released me.

  As he started to get out the ingredients he’d need for dinner, I wondered what I was doing here. Why was I letting myself be close with him again?

  I wasn’t sure I wanted to know the answer to that question. Wasn’t sure at all.

  Chapter 10

  Soul searching

  I leaned up against the counter as Nick made sautéed spinach, mushroom, and cheese crepes with some kind of creamy sauce. We fell into conversation like we always had. It was natural, as if a chasm hadn’t been opened between us.

  But the topic wasn’t so easy. We talked about our last op together when we’d found Bachmann. By the time we got to what had happened today, we were sitting at his kitchen table and eating his amazing crepes.

  Problem was that I was having a hard time eating because my stomach was so upset over Rori.

  “All I can really think about is my sister.” I pushed food I would normally have devoured around my plate. I moved my gaze from the plate to Nick. “I can’t help but think how this wouldn’t have happened if I had chosen another career.”

  “Lexi, you help people. You’ve saved countless lives.” Nick’s eyes never left mine. “Think about those girls you saved from a hell worse than death.”

  “I didn’t save all of them.” I thought about the girl who’d taken her own life after killing two of her abusers. She apparently hadn’t thought life was worth living after going through what she had at the hands of the sex slavers.

  Nick reached across the table and laid his hand over mine. It felt warm, secure. “You can’t save everyone.”

  I set down my fork beside my partially eaten crepe. “But what about my sister?”

  “We’ll find her and she’ll be okay.” His voice was low, intense. “I promise.”

  I nodded. “And we’ll take out Bachmann.”

  “You blame yourself for a lot of things.” He released my hand, pushed his empty plate to the side, and folded his arms on the table. “You’ve got to forgive yourself.”

  With a sigh I shoved hair from my face. “You’re one to talk. You keep things as bottled up inside as much as I do.”

  “Maybe it’s time we changed that.” His words caught me off guard. “It might be good fo
r both of us.”

  “I—I don’t know.” I looked away from him. “There are some things that are too painful to talk about.” I met his gaze again. “Like the people I was forced to assassinate. How do I get over that?”

  In this very chair in his kitchen I’d told him about FAS and how they’d forced me to do such horrible deeds. But in the end I’d taken out every one of the bastards who’d broken me.

  Could I ever be fixed?

  “You know that you had no choice.” Nick pushed my plate aside then took both my hands. His grip felt steadying. “You’ve got to accept that.”

  I stared at our joined hands. “A part of me knows you’re right. But another part of me sees the faces of every person I’ve ever assassinated and I wonder why I’d been ordered to take them out. What their lives had been like before I’d cut them short.”

  “Those are questions that can never be answered. What’s done is done.” He rubbed his thumb over the back of my hand. “What you need to focus on is the good you’ve accomplished since then. And you’ve done a hell of a lot of good.”

  I took a deep breath and looked from our hands to meet his eyes. “Do you really think I can let go? Do you think that’s possible?”

  He gave a slow nod. “You’ve paid your dues. It’s time you accept that and move on. Look at all the good in your life. You have a lot to live for.”

  I squeezed my eyes shut. Nick was right and I knew that deep inside.

  “If you’re going to fully love the people around you then you have to love yourself, too,” he said softly.

  Inside my soul, feelings stirred that I’d locked away. I opened my eyes and saw the depth of caring in his gaze. He wasn’t just talking about my family and friends. He was talking about us.

  Instead of immediately shutting down and running scared I thought about what he said and how it applied to everyone in my life from my family and my friends.

  To Nick.

  “Give yourself a fresh start.” His gaze looked so intense, so serious.

  “What about you?” I looked at him just as unflinchingly. “Have you reconciled yourself to the horrors that you went through?”